Ionita: The Moldovan Pension System to Face a Serious Crisis Already This Year

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Starting this year, Moldova may not be able to sustain the pension system from its own resources. This is at least the opinion of Veaceslav Ionita, an economic expert, tv8.md reports. According to him, 40% of our young people are abroad, and without immediate measures, there will be no one to deduct pensions. “As of the beginning of this year, the number of people over 60 has reached 593 thousand. At the same time, the number of employed people is 600,000 based on last year’s figures. I beg your pardon, but in 2023 we might witness fewer people appearing in the labor force than the number of people who have completed their work. This means that we are virtually unable to sustain our pension system with our own resources,” said the expert. According to Veaceslav Ionita, given the fact that the percentage of the ageing population in the Republic of Moldova is constantly increasing and is close to 25% due to migration of the population, especially young people, the social protection system has no ability to support itself. Today, one worker in the real sector of economy supports almost two people, either state employees or pensioners or those receiving other benefits and social security benefits. In other words, there is only a little more than one working person per pensioner. Statistically, there are now less than half a million young people in the country, and about 330,000 abroad. According to Veaceslav Ionita, the number of young people in Moldova has been steadily decreasing since 2015. This is a result of two factors – low birth rates and moving abroad.